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Volleyball07/06/2015

Four tiebreaker matches highlight Day 10 of World League

Lausanne, Switzerland, June 7, 2015 – Czech Republic, Netherlands, Poland and Argentina outlasted their opponents in the tiebreakers that filled the intense Day 10 of the FIVB Volleyball World League on Saturday.

Key Points

• Four out of eight matches were tiebreakers.

• Poland have four home wins against Russia and Iran.

• USA are still unbeaten in the tournament to stay on top of Pool B.

• Argentina have played two five-set matches so far, they lost the first five-setter and won the second.

• Bulgaria scored double victories in their visit to Havana to occupy the third spot in Pool C rankings.

• France are on top of Pool D standings with three victories so far in the World League, followed by Czech Republic with two wins and Japan with one win.

• Korea are still winless in Pool D.

• Netherlands now have three victories out of three matches, while Belgium have four victories out of five matches.

• Finland made back-to-back wins against Portugal.

Poland took a 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 25-16, 22-25, 15-6) win over Iran in Pool B. The Iranians stunned the Polish players as they snatched the first set win. Poland soon recovered with two straight victories in the second and third sets, but Iran found a way to stop Poland’s key players to extend the match to a fifth set. Poland, however, raced to an 8-2 advantage, which Iran could no longer topple and conceded the match to the home team.

USA are on top of the standings in Pool B after a straight-set (25-23, 25-21, 25-16) win over Russia. The United States showed accelerating strength in each set that held Russia to score only 16 points in the third set. Matthew Anderson topscored with 14 points for the United States. Aaron Russell and Murphy Troy contributed 10 points each, while Pavel Moroz of Russia was the lone double-digit scorer with 12 points.

Argentina got a solid game from Nicolas Bruno, Pablo Crer and Martin Ramos to earn their victory in the tiebreaker against Canada in Pool C. The visiting team’s 3-2 (23-25, 25-22, 21-25, 25-19, 15-10) win gave them a 1-1 record in Halifax after their dismal performance against Canada the day before. Martin Ramos had five blocks to lead the Argentine defence.

Bulgaria scored double victories in Havana after they completed a 3-1 (18-25, 25-20, 26-24, 25-23) victory over Cuba in Pool C. Cuba were eager but unsuccessful to give their home crowd victory. Although Cuba had a strong performance in the match opener, Bulgaria brandished its full might in the succeeding sets to deny the hosts of any tie-break extensions. Danail Milushev scored 18 points to lead the Bulgarian scorers, as three others scored in double figures.

In Pool D, Czech Republic carried on a 3-2 (20-25, 25-19, 18-25, 25-20, 15-12) win over Korea. These teams traded wins until the tiebreaker where Czech Republic finally got the break to win the match with a lead of only three points. Jan Stokr topscored for Czech Republic with 25 points.

Also in Pool D, France dominated in the first two sets but got its biggest challenge in the third set. The French team nonetheless prevailed in the third frame with an attack from Kevin Tillie and a block from Mory Sidibe. Tillie scored 14 points to lead France to their 3-0 (25-12, 25-14, 28-26) victory, while Kunihiro Shimizu was the lone double-digit scorer from the Japanese side.

Netherlands asserted its power with a 3-2 (25-21, 25-18, 14-25, 22-25, 15-9) victory over Belgium in Pool E. Netherlands opened the match with two set victories until they suddenly lost grip of their game and conceded the next two sets. Belgium led 6-5 but the Dutch side scored three straight points to snatch the lead at side change 8-6 with Nimir Abdel-Aziz scoring on a series of aces. The Dutch held their lead and ended it with an attack from Kay Van Dijk.

Like the Dutch team, Finland claimed their second victory with a 3-1 (25-23, 28-30, 25-14, 25-23) triumph over Portugal in the other Pool E clash. The Finns started well but the Portuguese came close but could not convert their run to a win in the first set. In the second set, Portugal finally punched through a win but needed extra points to close the set. Portugal were not able to recover from their second-set efforts as Finland raced to victory in four sets.